Thoughts on scholarships, school, and starting up.

We’ve recently partnered with America’s Promise Alliance as a way to show our commitment to helping students succeed.

America’s Promise Alliance’s mission is to ensure that all children are given the resources they need to succeed:

• Caring Adults
• Safe Places
• A Healthy Start
• Effective Education
• Opportunities to Help Others

An effective education is one of the key tenets of the Alliance. In today’s global economy, you need an education that prepares you with the skills and motivation for success. So while we don’t directly provide you with that education, we are committed to helping you afford it. We believe that by providing you access to an easy to use, comprehensive scholarship search engine – we’re doing our part in helping you succeed.

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College application time is an innately stressful event. However, it does not need to be the be all end all. Often times students will get so wrapped up in the “competitive” aspect of applying to college that the real “goal” is lost. It is difficult with constant ranking, scoring, and “sizing up” of one’s grades, test scores, extra cirricular activities and resumes. However, no good ever comes of panicking and getting overly stressed out.
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It used to be that mostly students in the Mid West would take the ACT and on the coasts students would submit SAT scores to the colleges of their choice. But, as admissions have become narrower and more competitive and students applying more numerous, many students all over the United States are considering taking the ACT over the SAT.

The ACT is subject-based unlike the SAT that is geared towards general knowledge and application. Although SAT’s are more “mainstream” if a student cannot afford to take the expensive and rigorous SAT prep courses, the ACT can be a good alternative or addition to the SAT score. A good indication is if a student does very well in school subjects but has a hard time with hypotheticals such as those given on the SAT. Also, the ACT is shorter in length and duration than the SAT. If endurance is a problem, the ACT could be a great benefit. The ACT is almost 3 hours and the SAT is almost 4 hours.

If a student is more detail oriented and diligent in school, the ACT may be just the right exam to take since it would cover much of the same topics as those learned in school while the SAT is based upon random analogies, hypothetical questions, reading passages and math problems in puzzle form.

But I am by no means saying that every student should skip out on the SAT. But perhaps more consideration to the ACT should be given. Personally, it doesn’t hurt to take both exams so the schools can have a more well-rounded look at a student’s achievement and potential rather than one flat score from one exam. Taking both exams may also open up your chances for scholarship awards. The choice is yours.

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Among the most important and useful resources that anyone can have is a mentor.  Years of school and hours of research will never replace what advice and encouragement a mentor can do for someone looking to get into the right college or land a scholarship.

Here are some reasons why a mentor is valuable:

1. A mentor will encourage and motivate you when times are tough i.e. when you have an overload school work or receiving rejection letters.
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Before you start looking for scholarships and other sources of financial aid, it’s a good idea to understand how much money you really need. This way you have a hard goal you need to reach.

First, you need to estimate your expected family contribution (EFC). This measures your parents (or your) ability to pay for your schooling.

The formula for calculating EFC is quite extensive, here are just some of the things considered:

• Your family’s taxed and untaxed income
• Any assets or benefits
• Family size
• Family members attending college during the year
• Additional family members supported by head of household

While you could calculate all this using the FAFSA formula, I find it much easier to use online calculators. FinAid and Collegeboard both have good ones.

You also will need the cost of attendance (COA) from the schools you are interested in. Since each school has a different COA, you’ll need to find the exact amount on the school’s website.

To get the overall financial need (FN), subtract EFC from COA.

The formula looks like this:
COA – EFC = FN

Once you have your FN, you’ll know how much financial aid you need to find in order to pay for school. Now go out there and get it!

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Keep working at what you love and don’t stop.

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One of the most challenging parts of a scholarship or college application is writing a personal statement.  Many students feel caught between the fine line of over-exaggeration or being too humble.  Here are some tips that will help you write a winning personal statement that is truly personal.

1.  Know all about the scholarship or school in which you are applying to.  Knowing the school or scholarship well will help you understand what they are looking for.  Your application and personal statement will stand out more if you show that you are well-informed about the scholarship or school.
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Here are a bunch of useful resources that we’ve gathered to help you apply successfully for scholarships. Here at AidScholar, not only are we motivated to helping you find scholarhips you are looking for, we are striving to help you achieve those scholarships. Applying for scholarhips requires a lot of organization and endurance, but with the right tools a scholarship applicant can be very successful. These free resources can be a vital tool for the scholarship applicant on the quest for scholarships galore.
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Here are ten tips to help you with your scholarship search.

1. Start early

There is never such a thing as “too early” when you are searching for scholarships. The sooner you begin your search, the better chance you have at finding what you are looking for. That means more time to apply and more of a chance you will obtain scholarships.

2. Be broad

Don’t give in to the tendency to be too specific. Open up your horizons and search for things that may be of interest to you, however general it may be. You may be surprised at how many applicable scholarships you may find.
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